"Why do we have so many Wu Xie?" "Why are they so different?!"
"Isn't this OOC?"
"That Wu Xie is so much more badass than this Wu Xie, why?"

Quoted from Shahai's Wu Xie actor, Qin Hao :
"100 people can play Wu Xie, but not a single one of them is Wu Xie."

- thread

the simplest reasoning is because of the change of actors, but why do they change?

did you know, Li Yifeng had actually signed an 8-year contract to act in all DMBJ adaptations, but what happened? why are there so many actors now?

the real reasoning is that Wu Xie grows over the years.

his personality changes a lot, he undergoes many different mental state changes, thus requiring different actors to properly convey his personality/way of thinking during the time the drama is set.

the three major stages in Wu Xie's mental phases are roughly like this.

天真 邪帝 天真邪帝
tianzhen xiedi tianzhen-xiedi
innocent evil emperor (both)

also there is an AU version of Wu Xie, a fix-it AU, in Time Raiders the movie.

as it is, Xiaoge and Pangzi's actors also change, but the changes do not affect their personality much; in all adaptations Xiaoge is the cool, aloof guy, while Pangzi the boisterous, gungho person.

Only in Wu Xie we see him from babie to daddy to what is this evil baby.

天真 - innocent
This is the longest period of Wu Xie's life as he starts exploring the tomb-robbers' lives and their way of doing things. During this time, he is still a 'baby', naive, easily fooled, kind to a fault. Li Yifeng and Hou Minghao, starry-eyed peachy youths, perfect!

邪帝 - evil emperor
During this time Wu Xie is at his peak, most stable yet most unstable state of mind. He was described to be cunning and ruthless, yet kind. But Shahai is also set from the eyes of an outsider, thus how Wu Xie is represented by Qin Hao, a sly man with secrets.

天真邪帝 - both
During this time, the Xiedi in Wu Xie has become dormant as the threats (Wangjia, Jiumen, etc) have been eliminated. It's no longer necessary to stay in the painful state of 'constant vigilance!' so he semi-reverts to his original innocence. Zhu Yilong, excellent.

AU Wu Xie!
This is a special case. Wu Xie in here is, actually, a figment of his own imagination. He created the nonsensical timeline in the story and showed a carefree Wu Xie with all problems solved, which is totally different from what really happened. Thus, innocent Luhan.

all of the Wu Xie's are amazing, and everyone did a good job in their own way. also, it's perfectly fine and understandable to have a preference for one Wu Xie over the others! just avoid putting down the others.

to explain Qin Hao's quote;
100 people can portray Wu Xie at different points of his life, but nobody can really become Wu Xiel at all points. they haven't experienced all that made him grow, thus, every Wu Xie will be different, based on the actor's interpretation/ability too.

last, simpler reasons for the changes.

actor schedules. money. the search for new talents. visuals. commercial value.

lmao

also, regarding the Yifeng contract..... nobody knows. it's a pit by itself. :)